Thieving caregiver gets prison

VISTA  A live-in caregiver accused of ripping off an elderly Carlsbad client, going on high-end shopping sprees and purchasing a Porsche, has been sentenced to prison.

Authorities said they traced a loss of more than $400,000 of the victim’s money to Maureen Javier Burley, 35.

Burley pleaded guilty in April to theft from an elder and second-degree burglary. On Thursday, she was sentenced in Vista Superior Court to three years and eight months in prison, Deputy District Attorney Anna Winn said.

Burley’s attorney declined comment.

Authorities started looking into Burley after her client told his family in March 2012 that he was afraid of her. Family members alerted police and took in the man, who was 81 at the time.

Burley had initially cared for the man and his wife, then stayed on after the wife died.

Her salary to provide 24-hour care for the man was more than $8,000 a month, and she lived in the top-floor master suite of his oceanview Carlsbad home, according to court documents.

In July 2011, the victim added Burley to his credit card accounts so she could buy household items, medicine and gas for him.

Within eight months, Burley racked up more than $150,000 on the cards, with purchases including designer handbags and jewelry from high-end stores, Winn said in the court filings. Burley also charged travel to the man’s cards.

Bank records showed Burley had cashed more than $250,000 in checks written either to herself or payable to “cash” from the victim’s account, Winn said.

In late 2011, Burley bought a 2012 Porsche. She drove it for three months, then sold it for $66,000 in February 2012.